We attempted Helen back in January and got shut down after a valiant effort of attempting to skin up 45-50 degree trees (this doesn’t work well!). This time we went at it with better knowledge of where the best route to ascent in the winter was. The initial approach is pretty easy due to the high foot traffic of Spruce Creek Road in the winter. Francie’s cabin is a very popular destination with less than a 2 mile hike off the road. Alex & I left the trail head just before 8am, knowing very well it was going to reach mid 40’s later in the day.
Alex basking in the morning sun
Are those Dynafit boots on a Venture Splitboard… I think so?! Alex has rocking his hardboot setup and has become a big fan of it on the ascents (I think he wants to be a skiier!). Today was a good day for his setup as the skin track along with everything else was completely bulletproof and iced. There were numerous times where it was easier to kick steps gaining treeline rather than sliding backwards skinning.
‘Slightly’ wind affected
We have received a decent amount of wind and sun since our last encounter with winter. This made things rather interesting the higher up we got, but that wasn’t gonna stop us. It looked like Mars above treeline the way the wind had scoured over the east facing aspect. It’s always nice getting above treeline when the majority of winter has kept you below it, the views were top notch.
Heading into Mars
Alex gaining the summit!
Mount Helen tops out at 13,164 feet in the Tenmile Range just south of Breckenridge. Neither of us had been on this peak before and it was gratifying reaching the summit after being shut down two months prior on the ascent. Surprisingly, there was no wind up high and with the sun it felt like you were roasting in the 45 degree weather. I think I’m ready for spring skiing and the gradual transition into our next season.
Quandary to the South
Kickin’ it at the summit
Due to the winds, this face hardly ever has a ski line from the summit, unless you like high alpine grass skiing… We dropped our skis about 300 feet short of the summit, after the last continuous patch of snow came to a halt. Our only concern were the 10 mountain goats eyeing our equipment as we left it behind. Half expecting to come back to them licking our skis for the ‘high salt’ content, luckily they preferred the alpine grass. Mountain goats are quite the alpinists, just make sure to never cross between a mother and her baby… They never appreciate that!!
Goats claiming their territory
Alex choosing his path wisely
The ski down was, what’s the word…. Variable! With extremely hard wind slab to soft sprayable wind slab and everything in between, it made for quite the descent. We were hoping for some potential spring corn snow, but we’re not quite there yet even though some of the turns down lower were rather creamy!
Piecing together some snow fields up high
Alex ripping some turns
The turns weren’t all that bad!!
Trying hard to make it look soft, slash!
Baldy in the backdrop
Alex enjoying the softer snow down lower
All in all, it was a great day getting up high on a peak and soaking in those spring rays. The skiing was quite adventurous, but that’s half the fun of it!! Get outside, explore, ski uphill and you’ll feel twenty times better about going to work the next day I promise 🙂
Migrantmatt 